It was unusually positive language for a top U.S. official speaking about the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but there was Secretary of State John Kerry giving the Syrian leader a pat on the back.

Speaking to reporters in Bali on Monday, Kerry hailed the quick pace at which inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have been able to get on the ground in Syria and begin their work to destroy its vast chemical weapons arsenal, as called for in a recent U.N. Security Council resolution.
"I think it is extremely significant that yesterday, Sunday, within a week of the resolution being passed, some chemical weapons were already being destroyed," Kerry said. "I think it's also credit to the Assad regime for complying rapidly, as they are supposed to. Now, we hope that will continue. I'm not going to vouch today for what happens months down the road, but it's a good beginning, and we should welcome a good beginning."

Just last month, when making the case for military action against Syria, Kerry compared Assad's use of chemical weapons to that of Adolf Hitler's gassing of millions of Jews. So what gives with him now patting Assad on the back?

Granted, he was standing next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, with whom he worked to lay the foundation for the U.N. resolution.

Moreover, the OPCW has acknowledged that Syria began destroying its chemical weapons program Sunday under the group's supervision.

In a statement on Sunday, the OPCW said that Syrian personnel are using "cutting torches and angle grinders to destroy or disable a range of items," including missile warheads, aerial bombs and mixing and filling equipment.

State Department officials insist Kerry's comments were meant to encourage continued cooperation with weapons inspectors and did not signal a softening of the Obama administration's stance on the regime.

In fact, hours before Kerry spoke, U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford was meeting with the chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army, Salim Idriss, where he reaffirmed Washington's commitment to a democratic, pluralistic Syria, free of Assad, and pledged to increase U.S. support for both the political and armed opposition.

But privately, some officials acknowledge the optics of the top U.S. diplomat praising Assad after more than two years of calling for his ouster reinforces concerns among the opposition that Assad's cooperation with the international community on the dismantling of his chemical weapons gives him job security.

"Yes, he is cooperating on the chemical for now, but there is a concern it sounded overly rosy and risks sending the wrong signal," one U.S. official said.

"Assad is still launching scuds on homes, and last week Syrian forces launched bombing raids on a school. Yes, he is cooperating for now but we have to make sure we are not patting the regime on the back."

At Monday's State Department briefing, Deputy Spokesman Marie Harf tried to soften Kerry's comments. While acknowledging Syrian cooperation with the OPCW was a "step forward," she declined to give the Assad regime "credit" and repeated the U.S. position that Assad has "lost all legitimacy to lead Syria."

Just because Assad's government is initially fulfilling its responsibilities to cooperate with the dismantling of its chemical weapons, Harf said, "that does not confer political legitimacy on them moving forward."

The United States and Russia have been trying to arrange peace talks between the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition in Geneva. The goal is a deal on a political transition that will end the civil war.

"This is the natural tension in our policy," says Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "On one hand, we have a policy that wants to go to Geneva and work on a political transition that does not include Assad. But we also are depending on Assad's existence and authority to rid the country of its chemical weapons. These two policy objectives are markedly different to one another."

The Obama administration has maintained the two are not mutually exclusive and that progress on chemical weapons could lead to progress on a Geneva conference. But Tabler says comments like Kerry's could make a political solution more elusive at a time when the United States has struggled to get opposition leaders to name a delegation for the Geneva talks.

"When you are praising a dictator, it makes it much harder to attract the opposition to the table and have them believe they are getting a fair shake in negotiations."

Since the United Nations passed its resolution on the plan to dismantle Assad's chemical weapons, Syria's foreign minister said the regime would attend Geneva but warned that the idea of Assad stepping down as a product of those negotiations would be a non-starter.

For its part, the Syrian opposition has a delicate balancing act. Clearly comments like the ones Kerry made Monday are unwelcome. But knee-jerk reactions to them would only give a currency to the comments, which would signal a political defeat the opposition can ill afford. For now, they seem intent on treating the chemical weapons issue as separate from their own political and military objectives.

"We understand Secretary Kerry's comments refer to the U.N. disarmament process, though meanwhile, the conflict and massive use of conventional weapons continues unabated under Assad's hand," Najib Ghadbian, the Syrian opposition's representative to the United States, told CNN. "As Secretary Kerry and President Obama have said, Assad has lost all legitimacy both internationally and internally, and there is no role for Assad in Syria's future."

But Ghadbian drew the line at Assad getting credit for something he was legally required to do and only agreed to under the threat of U.S. military action.

"These initial disarmament steps come only after the legitimate threat of the use of force, and only after the Assad regime admitted to possessing massive stocks of illegal weapons and brutally used chemical weapons against innocent civilians on multiple occasions, for which it needs to be held accountable," he said.

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Excellent. Now that the US is finally on the right side of history, arm Assad to help him destroy the vermin who call themselves jihadists but are actually hyenas with a human shape so that Syria can be peaceful again.

In the aftermath of the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime and the Obama administrations threat of strikes against the regime, I find secretary Kerry's remarks incredibly immature and poorly thought out. One moment you are going to bomb the guy, the next you're patting him on the back???

Immaturity would be having the same response no matter what Assad was doing. Last month, Kerry and Obama were calling on the world not to ignore the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons. They were asking the world to respond – and after the US threatened tageted strikes – an alternative of getting rid of the chemical weapons was negotiated by Kerry and Lavrov.

Syria, maybe because it felt it had no choice, is complying more than anyone expected. It is reasonable and MATURE for the US SoS to acknowledge this – which he did, while speaking very specifically JUST of the process to eliminate the chemical weapons. To NOT do this would have made it impossible for Kerry to be seen as serious in diplomacy in Geneva 2.

Might have something to do with the changes in Iran/US relations. Also, could be that somehow someone found out that someone else used chemical weapons to draw the US into the war ( hey! I have somebody in mind!.ahem...Mossad...ahem. Ooor...?! could it be 19 hijackers from Saudi Arabia?! eeeeenyway...whichever story you want to believe the good news is that the US did not fall for this one like they did last time.

Americas has committed more atrocities than Assad and Saddam combined, The carpet bombing of Laos is one such example of this terrorist nations crimes against humanity ... bunch of rifle hugging, flag waving hypocritical tw@ts

And millions of Americans went out into the streets to protest against that aerial bombardment! Hundreds of thousand of young, military age men gave up bright futures by refusing to go off to this war. Their heroic refusal to be part of the temporary insanity of the American government helped swing public opinion against the war, That is what ended the war, not the Vietkong! If Americans had not shouted for the end of the war, the North Vietnamese would have been "bombed into the dark ages", as one idiot general/politician once threatened to do. Now, where are the huge protests against the atrocities by both (or, all the many!) sides in Syria?

Very strange indeed. The massacre of hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrian citizens, the dislocation of millions of innocent Syrian citizens who now are living in refugee camps is totally forgotten. This horror even by standards set by Saddam Hussein is extremely barbaric, yet the US administrations feels satisfied. But this in unacceptable to all those who believe in justice and human dignity. The US is committing one error after another. Only time and history will judge them.

I see your point, and to a degree I can agree with it. However I think Assad turning over his chemical weapons is clearly a better alternative than US military action. Firstly, any US military action, no matter how justified in the Middle East is just going to end up with muslims hating America and using any action as a scapegoat to attack American interests, this is the case everytime. Obama said it best; if we do nothing we're blamed, if we do anything we're blamed.

Let's push that point aside though for the sake of argument. Let's suppose America did attack Assad instead of holding these UN negotiations. What good is it to bomb Assad only to leave him in power along with a huge stockpile of WMDs? That is the same thing as going into someone's house because they own a gun, shooting up the walls, and then leaving the person and their guns behind in the house. That is not good policy. All that would do is make Assad even more angry and irrational and he would still be in possession of some of the most ungodly weapons on Earth.

It is better therefore in my opinion for not only America, but also the whole World, and even Assad himself that he surender his WMD stockpile. Don't worry about vengeance on Assad. Assad will get his one day and it is better that when that day comes that he does not have chemical weapons. This Syrian Civil War is not ending anytime soon. With all the direct foreign involvement it is looking more like a muslim on muslim holy war than a civil war even. I highly doubt Assad will remain in power the rest of his life. These negotiations give him a chance to go into exile down the road, but seeing Assad's personality and actions makes me think he will cling to power until the day the rebels catch hold of him or until the day his allies in Hezbollah and Iran decide to put the knife in his back. Assad has made too many enemies and too many powerful friends with dubious backgrounds, his days as a leader are numbered and the count will run out.

Why is it America's job to show horror against the tragedy in Syria? Where are all the Muslim governments? Where are the Muslim protest marches? Too busy having their own civil wars! You cannot have it both ways: America, out of the Middle East! America, save the Middle East! Just once I'd like to read a post by a Muslim criticizing the hell that is going on in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, and so on. Just once!

One step at a time, kid! And Israel is not using a bombs just at the moment. Cannot you just once criticize what is going on in Muslim lands without saying:"Well look at Israel!" Or, "America bombed Laos!"? Iran and Iraq had a war and a million were killed. What has that to do with the horror show in Syria now?

It's starting to look like that Assad (at least for now) is going to stay as president in Syria, and therefore it's important for the U.S to start portraying him somewhat different in the media. If they're going to keep negotiating with him, he can't be looked at as a cold blooded tyrant. Visit my blog for my take.

It is fair for Kerry to praise Assad. Even I am pretty surprised how compliant Assad has been with this UN mission to remove his WMD stockpile. Don't lose sight of the real issue here people; the chemical weapons and removing them from a dangerous situation.

It is fair to still be skeptical of Assad. It is fair to be skeptical of Assad until the minute his last WMD is disarmed and destroyed However, it is also fair to give him a little praise if he actually does destroy his WMD stockpile. To my knowledge it is unprecedented for a dictator to allow UN inspectors to begin dismantling their WMD systems, much less for promosing to get rid of all WMDs.

All in all some good news for humanity as a whole. Its just a shame that the shutdown overshadows it.

It is amazing that this agreement was made, but not unprecedented. A recent example was that Saddam Hussein did allow missiles he had that exceeded the distance they were allowed to go To be destroyed in late 2002.

Kerry is doing the job that is there to be done. His job is not to condemn his job is to effectively supervise what we are doing.... which is giving assad a way out that does not include a few bunker busters in his house. We are eliminating the largest known stock of cw. As far as I am concerned that IS Kerry's job. If cw are being destroyed, on the nearing impossible timeline we set forth , Assad deserves a few good words.
In the end though lets be honest, that is more of a progress report directed at us, the american people (kerry's boss) than it is a pat on the back to assad.

Nice job meeting the challenge Kerry. I had no problem calling you out when you were sucking, but I think you rose to the occasion better than anyone expected.

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.